Description
Lossky’s great work on Eastern Orthodoxy covers the whole range of its spirituality and theology. Combining careful theology with the warmth of the deep personal devotion of the author, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church is the best introduction to Orthodox teaching and theology available. It provides a reliable and informative presentation of the theological spirit of the Eastern Church.
His account makes clear the profound theological differences underlying the practices of the East and West, and yet it is also an important contribution to ecumenism and to the life of Christian devotion. It brings together subjects that are more usually separated, asserting that there is no true mysticism that is not firmly rooted in theology, and no true theology that is not experienced, and therefore mystical. The tradition of the Eastern Church is presented as a mystical theology with doctrine and experience mutually conditioning each other.
About the Author
Vladimir Lossky (1903-58) was an influential Eastern Orthodox theologian. Born in Germany, he grew up in St Petersburg, but spent most of his adult life in exile in Paris, where he taught dogmatic theology at the St Dionysus Institute in Paris and the Orthodox Institute of St Irene. Essai sur la theologie mystique de l’Eglise d’orient (1944) (here translated as The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church) is his best known work.
Contents
1. Introduction: Theology and Mysticism in the Tradition of the Eastern Church
2. The Divine Darkness
3. God in Trinity
4. Uncreated Energies
5. Created Being
6. Image and Likeness
7. The Economy of the Son
8. The Economy of the Holy Spirit
9. Two Aspects of the Church
10. The Way of Union
11. The Divine Light
12. Conclusion: The Feast of the Kingdom
Index
Endorsements and Reviews
Its great merit lies in its mastery and systematic exposition of the Eastern Church.
The Guardian
The whole range of theology is passed under review in this little book in a masterly way.
The Expository Times
The book is a comprehensive account, by a truly gifted and learned theologian, of the intricates of Orthodox Christian theology. … Lossky’s work is, and will surely remain, a classic and indispensible source for the study of the Eastern Christian tradition.
Theandros Journal
